PPM Change Management & Adoption Challenges
The implementation of Project Portfolio Management (PPM) brings more openness to the authorisation process and less ambiguity into the what, where, when and how of the project delivery process. If a PPM process is put in place typical political manipulation around pet projects becomes much more difficult. PPM also makes it difficult to hide mistakes and brings a level of detail that may create a fear factor amongst both senior and operational managers. However PPM is a change project and resistance to change will essentially become the norm.
What are the typical barriers to adoption?
1. - Internal politics and culture are by far the biggest barriers to adoption. PPM by its very nature will demand change within the business, and with change comes resistance – from both above and below.
2 - You will need to become an ‘evangelist’ for Project Portfolio Management, with an ‘executive sponsored guardian angel’. Resistance is inevitable; critics will most likely outnumber advocates, and you will need to continually preach the benefits and prove the value of PPM.
3 - Often management is aware of dissenters or non-conformists in the organisation, but mistakenly relies upon the introduction of the new system to improve these individuals’ productivity and performance, rather than tackling them head-on through direct communication before introducing the new system.
4 - Organisational capability and maturity in programme and project management governance and standards will impact PPM adoption. The more mature the organisation project management capability, the more ready will the business be to adopt PPM.
5 - Top management commitment to and understanding of the purpose and value of Project Portfolio Management is critical. Typically senior management either delegates it to lower ranks, or believes that it is the responsibility of the vendor to design and implement a complete process in isolation, and fails to appreciate that the organisation and its key personnel are a vital part of the adoption process.
6 - Inability of management to agree criteria for identifying projects within the organisation is an important barrier. For example, there will be resistance from programme and project teams to the adoption of a common approach to managing projects, reporting progress and constructing business cases.
7 - Unwillingness of business managers to see their ‘pet projects’ shifted in priority is also a barrier.
8 - Disagreement on the pace of adoption is a challenge. Whether rollout is incremental or rapid, it is inevitable that the business will demand that disruption and productivity loss be minimised.
9 - The willingness of the organisation to support the financial investment potentially needed for implementing a PPM software tool-set will be a major issue, and tool selection is often fraught with technical difficulties. ‘Rip-and-replace’ solutions come at a high price – cultural, technical and financial. The adoption of PPM will need to take into account the impact on existing processes and systems. Will they be replaced? If so, why, and at what cost to the business? Integration, flexibility and configurability will determine the successful choice of any PPM solution.
10 - It is simply human nature, that people will blame the tools and processes to hide their own lack of knowledge and understanding. All tools and processes are created with their own set of idiosyncrasies; it will therefore be important to provide continual support and training. However, you must be prepared to accept that no matter how much you train, hand-hold, and evangelise, some people will simply not understand PPM.
11 - In order for the executive levels to get bird’s-eye view of information on multiple projects, it is essential that the business be able to collect that information and to determine who is working on what. One of the most crucial but often overlooked barriers to PPM is the adoption of timesheet technology as a method of collecting baseline information. It is essential to manage the ‘Big Brother Syndrome’ – the suspicion that the business is only using timesheet technology to keep tabs on the staff. Instead, it is necessary to sell the benefits of increased employee visibility, utilisation and productivity.
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